New €8m water project for Ennis fails tests

CLARE COUNTY Council’s new €8 million water treatment plant has failed initial tests resulting in the four-year old precautionary partial boil notice for sections of the greater Ennis population remaining in place for a further three months.

The council’s new plant was initially expected to be in place in February allowing the council to lift the precautionary partial boil notice that has been in place since 2005.

Already, the council has spent €2 million on a temporary water treatment plant along with the spend on the new permanent plant.

The precautionary boil notice advises residents that for the immuno-compromised, infants, pre-school children and visitors, water should be boiled before consumption.

The notice also applies to operators of hospitals, nursing homes, creches, pre-schools and day care centres.

The boil notice has been in place since an outbreak of cryptosporidium in 2005 and the water supply has been confirmed as a high risk water supply for cryptosporidium.

Now, in a report circulated to councillors, director of infrastructure David Timlin has said the new plant “has some way to go before we can be confident that it will perform consistently without needing the assistance of the old plant”.

He expalined that the commissioning phase for the new plant had commenced on March 2nd last.

However, Mr Timlin states: “While the quality of water produced by the new plant has consistently complied with required standards since operation started on 2nd March, the long-term reliability of the plant to consistently produce both the required quantity and quality has not yet been adequately and fully established.

“The interim plant will not be de-commissioned until we are fully satisfied in this regard,” he said.

Mr Timlin added: “In effect, the full commissioning cycle will have to be re-commenced once proposals for improvement have been agreed between the operator, the council’s consultant engineer, and the council.”